President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday promulgated four Ordinances, including the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Second Ordinance, 2019. After the President’s nod, the ordinance will come into force for the third time in less than a year. The Ordinance makes the practice of instant Triple Talaq a penal offence.
The Union Cabinet had given its approval to re-issue the Ordinance on Tuesday. The Government failed to pass the Bill, known as the Triple Talaq Bill, in the Rajya Sabha during the Budget Session of Parliament.
The Centre had first promulgated the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Ordinance in September 2018. A Bill to replace it was passed in
the Lok Sabha in December, but remained pending in the Rajya Sabha.
The Government promulgated the Ordinance again after the Winter Session of Parliament, but could not pass the Bill in the Rajya Sabha during the Budget Session.
The ordinance is set to lapse on June 3, when the current Government’s term ends and before the next session of Parliament.
The Triple Talaq ordinance has faced stiff resistance from the Opposition parties. On February 20, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had said that the ordinance will be used as “a weapon against minorities.”
The other ordinances which promulgated by the President, are the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Second Ordinance 2019; the Companies (Amendment) Second Ordinance 2019 and the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Second Ordinance 2019.
The Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Second Ordinance 2019 is to protect gullible investors from Ponzi schemes. The Ordinance will immediately tackle the menace of illicit deposit-taking activities in the country launched by rapacious operators, which at present are exploiting regulatory gaps and lack of strict administrative measures to dupe poor and gullible people of their hard-earned savings.
The Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Second Ordinance, 2019 to allow the Board of Governors (BOG) to run the scam-tainted apex body for regulating medical education.
The Companies (Amendment) Second Ordinance 2019 It is based on the recommendations of the Committee to review offences under the Companies Act, 2013, so as to fill critical gaps in the corporate governance & compliance framework as enshrined in the Companies Act 2013, while simultaneously extending greater Ease of Doing Business to law abiding corporates.
The President also gave his assent to changes in the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, which will rationalise and harmonise the system of levying stamp duty and help curb tax evasion. The Amendments to the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, were introduced as part of the Finance Act 2019, and was approved by Parliament.
The amendments propose to create the legal and institutional mechanism to enable States to collect stamp duty on securities market instruments at one place by one agency (through the Stock Exchanges or Clearing Corporations authorised by the stock exchange or by the Depositories), the Finance Ministry said in a statement.
A mechanism for appropriately sharing the stamp duty with relevant State Governments based on state of domicile of the buying client is also proposed, it added.
The proposed rationalised and harmonised system is expected to lead to zero tax evasion. The stamp duty will have to be paid by either the buyer or seller of a financial security, as against the current practice of levying the duty on both, the Ministry added.